Rita is 58 years old and finished Compulsory Secondary Education (ESO) in Belgium but from that moment on she decided to enter the world of work. When she became unemployed, she began looking for a new position and was hired as a teleoperator in a company where she could also work from home because the headquarters were in Tokyo. There are more and more people older people of this age who are looking to get a new job and they feel rejected by ‘ageism’.
As he explained in an interview with HLNthe woman (who has managed to go viral in a few days), has climbed the ranks in her company until she landed a position as a data quality analyst. To get there, he had to make a specific training in the new technologies sector.
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In addition to stopping receiving unemployment benefits, since she was unemployed, the woman recognizes that getting a job has benefited her in other aspects. His bank account has grown considerably since “I can save about 3,000 euros a month“This was possible thanks to the Flemish Employment Agency (VDAB), which is like the State Public Employment Service (SEPE) in Spain, which helped her achieve stability after having chained several temporary contracts.
Company car, free gasoline and pension plan
According to this worker in the interview, after accepting the position of teleoperator everything changed. Thanks to internal promotions, he has managed to be at the top, rubbing shoulders with top executives and enjoying “a company car with a fuel card, a laptop and a mobile phone.”
He also points out that they have made a pension plan and health insurance available to him. And to save 3,000 euros every month, what do you do? As he says in the aforementioned medium, he travels by bicycle when he can. An attitude that encourages sustainability, which is why it has bonuses “of up to 5,000 euros” per year.
He studied ESO and now earns 4,626 euros per month
Although she got her job by presenting a resume that only included ESO as completed studies, Rita began training to improve her employment status and, therefore, her salary.
The economist Stijn Baert, consulted by several Belgian journalists, has assured that the case of this 58-year-old woman is unique and worthy of study. He highlights that it is not common to find something similar in the labor market of that country, with salaries of more than 4,600 euros per month.
For the expert, the secret of Rita’s success begins the moment she decides to dedicate herself to a sector in which there is a lot of demand and few professionals. “She knew she could scale easily and has opted for a large company to end up charging more.”
“In the case of these, the average salary is almost 1,600 euros higher than in the small ones”, a salary advantage that can later help to earn more when the time comes to retire.
The challenge of those over 50 years of age and new technologies
Companies that are hiring people over 50 often find that at this age, training in new technologies is scarce. “She is doing very well, because she has been able to focus her professional career thanks to two important decisions.”
“The problem is that many companies consider that those over 50 years of age are not profitable, that they are expensive, and that they are not up to date with new technologies, but in addition, there is a belief that they are more complicated when it comes to training.”
Regarding Rita’s future, the specialist recommends that she not change jobs, that she continue in the same company but that she ask for improvements in salary or working conditions.